The Voice

Issue date: 11/9/06 Section: sports

Media Credit: Krista Rompolski Sophomore Bethany Schwing, above middle, fights for position on the grueling Regional Championship course at Slippery Rock University this past weekend.

For most collegiate cross-country runners, the Regional Championships is the culmination of the season; the last chance to demonstrate the amount of hard work that went into the previous months. The Huskies had their chance last weekend at Slippery Rock University, one of the most grueling courses that the Huskies tackle. Amid a field of 182 male and 189 female runners, the men's team came in 6th place out of 29 teams and the women's team came in 4th out of 31 teams. Winning the championships for the men with 49 points was Lock Haven University led by senior Ryan Blood, who also came in first place overall. Lock Haven was followed by Edinboro Univeristy with a total of 88 points. Both teams will go on to the National championship meet in Pensacola, FLA. Bloomsburg, who finished with 172 points, was only 5 points away from the 4th place finisher, East Stroudsburg University.

Senior Justin Shepherd led the race for the Huskies. Shepherd placed 4th overall in a time of 32:24.40, qualifying for both All-Region honors and the National Championship race for the second year in a row. Finishing 2nd for the men's team was Junior Jim Stockley, with a 34th place finish in 34:36.45. Stockley had mixed feelings about his placement at Regionals. "I know I ran well; I was never expecting to finish 35th in the region coming into the season so I can't complain about that. There were a few runners that I beat at conference that finished ahead of me at Regionals.  I ran well, but I know I didn't have my best race of the year, which is how I wanted to end my season." 

Rounding out the top 3 for the men's team was Freshman Misha Litvinov in 34:42.80 and 36th overall. Litvinov was followed by Junior Tim Marcoe (35:04.10, 47th place), Freshman Ori Merkel (35:08.40, 51st place), Junior Dan Tallarico (35:32.10, 63rd place) and Sophomore Mike Dalton (35:54.90, 72nd place). Overall, both the team and the coaches were satisfied with the men's performance. "I feel the men's team had one of their better seasons in program history," said Stockley.  "I know we surprised some people with our finish at Regionals. We finished higher than last year and we did it with a lot of new faces on the Varsity squad.  Some of us were disappointed that we were 5 points away from 4th place last Saturday, but overall, I think the guys were satisfied with how the team performed this season." 

Continued...

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